Daniel Catan - Rapaccini's Daughter (Opera Highlights); Obsidian Butterfly

Daniel CATAN (1949-2011)

Rapaccini's Daughter (Opera Highlights)

Obsidian Butterfly

Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra

EduardoDiazmunoz

Convivium Musicum Chorus

Fernando de la Mora;

 Jesus Suaste; 

Encarnacion Vazquez

Daniel Catan (1949-2011)

Daniel Catan (1949-2011) was born in Mexico, studied philosophy in England, and earned a Ph.D. in composition at Princeton. Despite his studies under serialists like Milton Babbitt, Catan has forged a reputation based on his unerring melodic instinct, his lush, highly chromatic harmonic style, and his rich scoring. His opera "Florencia en el Amazonas" is one of the sensations of the contemporary opera scene, thrilling audiences at major opera houses around the world with wave after wave of melody and passion. Indeed, "melody and passion" pretty much sum up the essence of Catan's music.

Those words are certainly applicable to "Rappaccini's Daughter," which was premiered in 1988. Like "Florencia," this earlier opera has a Spanish libretto, but while "Florencia" is based upon the works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, "Rappaccini's Daughter" is based upon Octavio Paz, the Mexican poet who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1990.

The plot is a moving story of doomed love--the usual opera fare. But it is served well by an excellent libretto and, more importantly, Catan's extraordinary music. In his liner notes, the composer cites as influences everyone from Monteverdi to Berg, and the music here sometimes resembles a mixture of Debussy and Bellini, as Catan merges some neo-impressionist harmonies with the sort of long, arched melodies that make Bellini's music so moving. Catan is, however, wholly original in how he uses his influences, and "Rappaccini's Daughter" is a magnificent, entirely worthy addition to the international opera repertory.

Those who think contemporary classical music means dissonance and abstraction will find in this opera all the qualities that make the works of Puccini and Mozart beloved, but in a modern, non-derivative idiom. Any music this melodic deserves a listen.

Full Biography:

Daniel Catán, whose sudden death in April 2011 shocked the opera world, composed in a lyrical, romantic style lends itself particularly well to the human voice, which features prominently in the majority of his works. Catán's proficiency can easily be heard in his opera Florencia en el Amazonas — the first Spanish-language opera commissioned by a major American company. Catán described his objective for the opera: “I set out to write beautiful music for a story of the journey to transcendent love; it concerns all of us who have lived love with all its intricacies, subtleties, wretchedness, and glorious happiness.” Catán’s intentions were noble and bold. In the eyes of both the public and the critics — who lauded the work’s honesty, beauty, and sheer devastating dramatic effect — he accomplished his goals. His influences belie his native land: he has been compared to Debussy, Richard Strauss, and Puccini — with a wisp of Japanese influence. Catán attested gladly to his wide spectrum of influences. “I have inherited a very rich operatic tradition,” he said. “In my work, I am proud to say, one can detect the enormous debt I owe to composers from Monteverdi to Alban Berg. But perhaps the greatest of my debts is having learnt that the originality of an opera need not involve the rejection of our tradition (which would be like blindly embracing the condition of an orphan), but rather the profound assimilation of it, so as to achieve the closest union between a text and its music.” 

Though Catán was born in Mexico, he was a product of both British and American schooling, receiving degrees from the University of Sussex (in philosophy), University of Southampton, and Princeton University — where he studied with Milton Babbitt — before returning to Mexico to take up the post of music administrator at Mexico City’s Palace of Fine Arts. There, apart from establishing himself as an essayist writing about music, he came to love opera. In 1994, the San Diego Opera premiered his symbolist opera, La Hija de Rappacini (Rappaccini’s Daughter), a work written in collaboration with librettist Juan Tovar. The success of La Hija de Rappacini led to Catán’s next opera, Florencia en el Amazonas — a collaboration between Catán, Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez, and García Márquez's protégée, Marcela Fuentes-Berain. The opera is loosely based on García Marquez's novel Love in the Time of Cholera. Florencia en el Amazonas taps deeply into García Márquez’s world of magical realism. “It is,” said Catán, “the story of the return journey that we all undertake at a certain point in our lives: the moment when we look back at what we once dreamed of becoming, and then confront what we have now become.” Since its premiere in 1996, Florencia has been performed by a number of major American opera companies; the European premiere took place in 2006 in Heidelberg, Germany. In celebration of its 50th anniversary, the Houston Grand Opera commissioned Catán’s third opera Salsipuedes, A Tale of Love, War, and Anchovies — a dark comedy which takes place on the fictitious island of Salsipuedes and premiered in 2004. The European premiere was seen in Hagen, Germany, in 2008 in a German singing translation. Catán’s fourth opera, Il Postino, based on the Oscar-winning film, and commissioned by Los Angeles Opera, debuted in 2010 in Los Angeles with Plácido Domingo and Charles Castronovo in the leading roles. The European premiere followed at Vienna’s Theater an der Wien (December 2010), with subsequent performances scheduled for Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris (June 2011), and Center City Opera in Philadelphia (Fall 2011). At the time of his death, Catán was at work on his next opera, Meet John Doe. The University of Texas at Austin, which commissioned the opera, also premiered the chamber version of La Hija de Rappaccini in February 2011. 

Catán’s non-operatic output is full of equally powerful works: Caribbean Airs for orchestra with a featured role for the percussion section (2007); En un Doblez del Tiempo (A Fold in Time), and an orchestral suite from Florencia; Mariposa Obsidiana, for soprano, chorus and orchestra; and the small but charming Encantimiento, for two flutes.